


Appearances Are Deceiving

by Legendsofkrypton



Series: Appearances are Deceiving [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Barry needs a hug, M/M, Protective Mick, Protective Rogues, Team Flash are kinda dicks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 09:57:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9716444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Legendsofkrypton/pseuds/Legendsofkrypton
Summary: Being a hero is hard, especially when your 'team' have expectations that they push on you. So Barry has one hide out, one place he can be himself; and that is with the metas imprisoned below the Labs but he can't stand having them stuck there anymore, he needs to get them out.





	

It was all getting too much, they all just kept pushing their expectations on him, constantly berating him for doing something the wrong way even though they had literally just told him to do it that way.

  
Take the latest criminal he caught, he wasn't a big time crook like Captain Cold and Heatwave or a meta-human like Mark Mardon or Hartley Rathaway; but he was someone dangerous, someone who held no qualms about hurting those around him to get what he wanted and wasn't even phased when Barry turned up right in front of him donned in his Flash suit. Instead he grabbed his closest hostage and held a gun to a nine year old little girls head, threatening to blow her brains out right there and then if Barry didn't leave.

  
So Cisco and Wells told him to do whatever it took to get the gun out of his hands and away from the little girl, so Barry did, he grabbed the gun and twisted the mans arm behind his back to subdue him; he wasn't brutal, he just put enough force behind his movements to make sure he couldn't hurt any of the hostages.  
But as soon as he had disarmed the man he had his 'team' shouting at him in his ear for his actions, looking around he wondered if the public all saw the same thing as his team but they all seemed to be in awe and thankful of his intervention, rather than scared.

  
The little girl was shaking in her mothers arms, but she caught Barry's eye as the CCPD rushed into the bank, as his colleagues took the robber from his grasp, the little girl walked over to Barry and threw her arms around him muttering a thanks before running to her mother so he took off back to STAR Labs to face the music.

  
The following lecture about unhero like actions and becoming a criminal if his actions stayed the same took close to forty minutes, and by the end of it Barry had felt like giving up on being the Flash, giving up on being the 'hero' they all thought he was. He wasn't a hero, he was a kid who's mother was killed in front of him, who's father was arrested for a murder he didn't commit and he was sent to live with the man who arrested his father right next to him. He was unlucky in love and in life.

  
So he went to the first place that came to his mind whenever he wanted space, whenever he needed to clear his mind when the burden of being what everyone relied on became too much.

  
The pipeline.

  
~~~~~~~

  
“What did they do this time?” Hartley asks as soon as the doors to the cells that held them opened.

  
It was obvious who had opened them because only one person ever came down to see them lately, the first week or so that the meta-humans had all spent in the pipeline together, Caitlin would bring them food and water and let them out for five minutes so that they could have the basic amenities that humans needed.

  
But then one day, the Flash came down instead of the doctor. At first, all of the metas despised him, almost hurt him numerous times, until he showed them a softer side to the STAR Labs team, he talked with them, he allowed them out for longer times and even made sure they had food they actually liked instead of garbage that the idiot Ramon cooked up.

  
In the beginning the metas being held in the pipeline hated the Scarlet speedster, it took a few weeks for them to grow to like him, Barry had secretly created them items that allowed their powers to lay dormant when they wore them, he was a scientist after all which every one seemed to forget.

  
At first it was a cuff for Nimbus that kept him in solid form, it stopped his DNA from having the ability to change into gaseous form without harming him, but it was a prototype and only held for an hour or so at a time. Then it was a pair of glasses for Bivolo that was like Cyclopes glasses from X-Men and Roy and Barry both had a mini fanboy moment at that idea.

  
Third was a cuff similar to Nimbus' for Shawna, and then it was a pair of ear phones for Hartley that he could tinker with and add frequencies too instead of relying on his implants, especially since Cisco had taken them.

  
Although none of them told the other members of Team Flash and kept them hidden if they ever 'graced' them with their presence.

  
Barry just shrugs lightly at Hartley's question as he sat back against the wall of the pipeline, he had released the five he knew wouldn't hurt him. Simmons had proven the moment he let him out the first time that it wasn't going to work out with the electric meta when he tried to kill him, he done it more than once so Barry rarely let him out for longer than five minutes.

  
Shawna hesitates for a moment before moving to Barry's side and sitting down next to him, she had first despised the hero for locking her up, she hadn't done anything bad enough to land in a prison like cell, she hadn't killed anyone like the others (except Hartley); but after bonding with the hero over music and food, it hadn't taken her long until the thoughts of anger and hatred towards him disappeared.

  
Mark was the one that took the longest to lose his hatred towards the hero, Roy bonded over nerd stuff and comic books, Kyle just dealt with the younger man, Shawna had the music and food bromance thing and Hartley appreciated the suit and the tech that the hero wore and created right under the other genius' noses. But Mark, he had nothing to bond with the younger man over, at least nothing that they had found yet and it had been nearly two months since they started getting along.

  
“I don't know why I bother” he whispers softly, it was almost too quiet for them to hear and probably would have been if it wasn't for the fact that they were in a place that echoed.

  
“What's happened kid?” Roy asks as he moves to stand beside Mark, in front of the speedster and teleporter. The speedster was definitely younger than all of them, except maybe Shawna and Hartley and none of them liked that the kid was always feeling like crap whenever he came to see them, it wasn't always visible but they could all tell, they were criminals for a reason.

  
Barry looks up at Roy and around him at the other metas, how did he end up in this position, he first started going to see the 'prisoners' so that he could try and relieve his guilty conscience but then he got to know them and he wanted to get them out of there as soon as he could. He had grown to trust the five criminals more than he trusted those of STAR Labs, Cisco and Caitlin saw him as a hero, one of their own creation while Harrison Wells for some reason saw him as a prodigy.

  
“Nothing” he tells them with a small forced smile, only to get a scoff from Mark and a frown from everyone else.

  
Mark crouches down in front of the young man and looks him in the eye, he could see sadness, pain and hurt in the depths of the green eyes, there was a hardness there that no one should have at the age they guessed him to be. He was stronger than anyone he knew if he could still hold his innocence with that hardness in his soul.

  
“Don't lie to us Red” Roy warns the kid, as he steps closer to the speedster “We aren't like them, we aren't going to let you keep going with a weight on your shoulders, you're of no use to us with your mind elsewhere”

  
Barry looked up at the bespectacled man in slight shock and confusion, why were his enemies being so nice to him? He was nice because of guilt to start with but then he enjoyed their company because they never criticised him or expected things of him, they let him be himself, the masked version of himself anyway.

  
“I disarmed a criminal by twisting his arm behind his back” Barry told them softly as he moved his gaze down to his lap “Not badly, just enough to make him drop the gun from the head of a kid”

  
“And the nerd squad got angry with you” Hartley sums up, he had a feeling that that's what happened, Wells wouldn't have let his 'golden boy' hurt anyone and Cisco and Caitlin are bleeding hearts that probably flinch at the first sign of violence.

  
Barry nodded in confirmation and was about to speak until Hartley put his hand up and focused his hearing, he made the well known hand signal that had all the metas heading towards their cells and the flash zooming into the shadows and then away before he could get caught.

  
~~~~~~~

  
“I'm getting you out of here” Barry announces as soon as he entered the pipeline and released the five he knew he could trust, Simmons cell was mirrored like Shawna's and soundproof, he had done it the moment that he started to become acquaintances with the others, mainly so that Simmons didn't use it against any of them.

  
“And how do you plan on doing that Flash?” Mark asks slightly annoyed, he wanted to get out badly, he wanted to see the sun and feel the breeze and didn't want the superhero raising their hopes only for the escape to be impossible.

  
Barry smirks a little at the question before an alarm is blasting throughout the facility and Cisco's voice is heard through the speaker system.

  
“Captain Cold and Heatwave have breached the security, we need you up here now!” Cisco shouts, he knew Barry was with the rogues, it was the usual routine and he didn't know which one was out with the hero so he wasn't going to use the speedsters name.

  
Barry gives the five criminals a wink before pressing the comms on his suit, activating them. “Just got Mardon back in his cell, I'll be there in a flash”

  
Hartley bites back a groan as Shawna smoothers a laughter at the pun, he leaves the door to the pipeline open, before flashing out of the pipeline and towards his 'nemesis' who was having fun freezing up the cortex.

  
Cold and Heatwave weren't there to cause any serious damage to Barry, they were there as the distraction; Snart and Rory were to cause havok while Lisa snuck in through an entrance that very few remembered and was to find the pipeline with Barry's map so that she could smuggle the meta's out. And that way, the five also owed the Snart siblings so Barry hoped that they would join his little gang and keep out of too much trouble.

  
“About time you turned up Scarlet” Len drawls as he aims his gun towards his target, Mick and he agreed that they were only going to graze the speedster.

  
It had been a surprise when he was approached by the gangly CSI in Saints and Sinners, the young man asking him for help in breaking out criminals from his own facility, it confused the hell out of him and made him question everything he knew about the hero. But he agreed, he wanted a favour from the young man and having the other criminals in his debt was just an added bonus.

  
“Got a little caught up” Barry shrugged with a small smirk of amusement and started running to keep up with the jets of ice and fire that followed him, he got caught once or twice but it wasn't the worst hits that the two had landed on him.

  
After about five minutes, Len aimed at Barrys' feet and froze him to the ground, Lisa had had enough time to get in and all the others out, especially with Shawna Baez's powers, the power to teleport was something that Len was awed by.

  
“Gotta run Scarlet, stay cool” Len smirked as he holstered his gun and motioned for Mick to follow him who did without hesitation.

  
Barry rolled his eyes at the pun and waited until his feet defrosted before heading to the cortex to find out how long it would take them to realize that the meta's were gone, turns out it wasn't long, Caitlin had decided to go down and finish what Barry had started when they were so rudely interrupted by Cold and Heatwave.

  
“You need to go find them. Now!” Wells demanded of Barry, who jumps slightly at the disdain and venom in the older man's voice at the prospect of the criminals being out in the open. Probably because Hartley was one of them and also, just in case they talk about the pipeline to the press.

  
Barry nodded in response and instantly took off through the city, he knew where he needed to go but he wasn't going to let his tracker take him there; instead he ran randomly around the city, zipping to places that were known places they would go.

  
“Trackers off Scarlet” Colds voice chimed in his ear suddenly causing Barry to yelp in surprise and send him careening into a bush nearby which set off laughter in his ear from the meta's he had released.

  
“I hate you all” he grumbles with the token amount of annoyance before flashing to the safe house that Cold had told him about when they first agreed to him helping the meta's escape.

  
Appearing in a burst of speed, Barry can't help but grin when he shocks the people in the room, his gaze flits over the room and spots just how calm the criminals were now that they were out of the pipeline and back in civilisation.

  
“Have a nice trip?” Cold asks amused, he was still confused at the fact that Barry had enlisted him to save criminals and was very happy that as soon as Hartley got near a computer, he ignored everyone around them and hacked into STAR Labs, making the tracker think that Barry was still running around the city like an idiot and then hacked into his comms for a moment so they could allow him to get away safely.

  
Barry rolls his eyes and debates his next move for a moment before removing his cowl.

  
“It was enlightening” Barry tells him with a roll of his eyes as he looked around the room at the people he had saved and now the people who knew his identity.

  
He had been debating telling them since they all started to get along, he was sure Hartley knew because there was no way the genius didn't. Len knew obviously and Barry knew that he had stuck to his word and not told his partner or sister.

  
He wasn't expecting anything from Shawna or Roy when he unmasked himself. Shawna would probably be fine since he's around her age and Roy had already shown that he cared more than he let on, no matter what he said about him being of no use to them.

  
It was Mark, Kyle and Lisa that he was worried about.

  
Mark was because of the obvious and the same with Kyle, Joe was the reason that Mark lost his brother, he had it out for the detective and his immediate family because of losing Clyde; while Kyle was arrested by Joe and then sentenced to death.

  
While Lisa; she was an unknown.

  
“You're-” Mark started as emotions began to conflict within him, ice began to form in his hands as he tried to figure out what he was going to do, the kid was the foster son of the man he hated, he was also the Flash; but he was also the kid who cooked them all foods that they all liked, who got them random things to keep them occupied and who risked his friendships to save them.

  
Kyle had a little less conflict, yes Joe West arrested him, but he was also just a detective doing his job, his need for revenge disappeared while he was in the cell.

  
“Easy Mark” Shawna soothed lightly as she put her hand on Mark's shoulder, the reveal was shocking, but it was only shocking to her because the hero that was being forced to run around the city saving lives was close to her own age.

  
Mark looked over at the red leather covered speedster and takes a deep breath before he allows the ice in his hands to melt. “Your father killed my brother”

  
Barry watches the scene unfold and wraps his arms around his stomach almost protectively.

  
“He's not my father” he tells the man almost angrily, he loved Joe, but the man was never truly there for him, he never had been, he just took him in to relieve the guilt of arresting his father in front of him.

  
“He's the man that arrested his father” Len supplies from the counter where he had sat to watch the events move forward, he was surprised that Barry had revealed his identity but not that shocked considering Barry's nature. “You've met Doc Allen right? The kid is his only son, the one he speaks so highly about”

  
Barry perks up at the mention of his father and looks over at Len with wide eyes.

  
“You've met my dad?” Barry asks hopefully, he wanted to know if his dad was okay, if he was safe and unharmed in the prison that he was wrongfully thrown into years previously. His eyes instantly move to Mick who was watching Barry curiously, his eyes looking the boy in front of him up and down carefully.

  
Barry takes a step forward to Mick and bites his lip “You've talked to dad?”

  
Mick ignores those around him as he steps forward and nods.

  
“He's good sport, no one's going to harm 'im in there. Not unless they want to go up against me” Mick reassures Barry before moving forward and pulling the lithe form into his arms to the shock of everyone in the room.

  
“Thanks Uncle Mick” Barry tells him as he buries his head into the older mans chest, he hadn't felt this safe in years, he hadn't seen Mick in years either, not since before his mom died. And he was never contacted about taking Barry in because no one knew about their connection, the only people who did were his family, which is why he was hopeful that his uncle had gotten to talk to his dad and obviously believed that his dad didn't kill his mom.

  
“Whoa whoa what's going on? Since when has Micky had a nephew?” Lisa demands as she watches everything in disbelief.

  
Mick and Barry pull away from each other and grin almost identically, “Maybe we should sit down and explain everything?” Mick suggests as he starts moving to the living room anyway.

  
As soon as they were all settled, Mick pulled Barry to sit down next to him with his arm around his shoulder protectively and comfortingly.

  
“Not many people know this, actually until now only three people alive know this” Barry hums lightly, he didn't realize just how little live people knew the secret of his family. “But my mom wasn't an only child, when she was born, she had an older brother; Mick. But my grandparents had started noticing the signs of Mick's pyro tendencies and decided that my mom wasn't safe so they gave Mick up for adoption”

  
“My 'rents weren't too smart and didn't think I would remember, but I always remembered my little sister and when I was twenty I found her, and I became part of her life up until the night she died, she wasn't killed by her husband like people think” Mick finished, it was a simple explanation but it wasn't like any of them needed to know in detail about his life. Now they knew how he and Barry were related and they could think what they like, except he needed to see if Len was okay with him keeping that secret.

  
“He definitely has your fiery temper” Len comments immediately and smirks over at his husband to reassure him that everything was forgiven.

  
Barry groans lightly and scowls weakly at the other man.“A heat pun? Really?”

  
“Just as bad as the lightning pun earlier Scarlet” Len drawls as he moves from where he was perched and dropped down into the seat next to the young hero “or do you think no one noticed it?”

  
Barry opened his mouth to reply, yes he made a lightning pun but he did it in the heat of the moment....and there was another one, but he found it funny and figured that a pun may lighten the mood after his reveal.

  
“So let me get this straight” Lisa interrupts the conversation as she stands up and steps in front of the trio on the big couch. “Micky had a secret sister that he told no one about including his husband, yes Lenny I knew the pun was to reassure Micky, and he also had a secret nephew who turns out to be the Flash. The hero that has locked both of you up in Iron Heights, who locked these five inside a pipeline cell only to break them out of it again right under the noses of his so called friends because he felt guilty.

  
“The same hero who has stupidly revealed his face to seven known criminals without even a thought about dangerous that is, and now we're all sitting in the living room like one big happy family and we're expected not to hurt each other?”

  
“Well fuck” Barry blurts out shocked as soon as Lisa finished her speech and yelps when he get's hit across the back of the head, not once but twice, both on different sides of him which meant that both men didn't appreciate his language.

  
Barry scowls at Mick before turning his scowl on Leonard who just raised an eyebrow at the younger man, daring him to say anything. Instead of saying anything though, Barry just grins in amusement.

  
“So does this mean I get to call you uncle Lenny?” Barry asks innocently which caused Mick and Lisa to pause and start laughing madly at the turn of events.

  
Leonard froze at the question and for once was speechless, this was unknown territory, and he didn't like unknown territory. But he did care about the speedster in front of him, before he even knew about his relationship to his husband; Len and Mick had been unofficially married since they were young men and made it legal as soon as it was legal, he knew that Mick used to disappear but he was never worried about why, he trusted his partner to stay faithful and he always was faithful.

  
“In private you can call me Uncle Len if you really want to, but call me Len rather than Cold or Snart” He finally answers and smiles a little when he sees the shock and gratitude in the speedsters eyes at his answer.

  
“So what happens now?” Mark asks interrupting the family reunion or whatever it was.

  
Len looks over Barry's head at his husband and has a small silent conversation before nodding and turning back to the room.

  
“Now we plan”

**Author's Note:**

> Mick would make a good uncle, imagine him teaching Barry how to fight or how to burn things which is why Barry became so involved with science.


End file.
